


Leave Your Mark

by saturnian



Series: Office Romance [4]
Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Language, Secret Relationship, short little oneshot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-08
Updated: 2016-04-08
Packaged: 2018-05-31 23:15:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6491362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saturnian/pseuds/saturnian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A stain on Barba's shirt causes a bit of confusion | lipstick and intrigue, what more could you want?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Leave Your Mark

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys, it's been forever and a half since I've written any fic, so hopefully im not too rusty. i recently caught back up on svu and i couldnt get this little oneshot out of my head. also, I don't know how it happened but im lowkey a carisi fan now, so i feel kinda bad about being so aggressive towards him in the previous installments lmao. anyways hope this isnt terrible and i would love any feedback! oh yeah p.s., i know the title fucking sucks but college literally drains my soul, so it's as clever as it's gonna get right now sorry

“Where’s Barba? I thought you said he was gonna meet us at 11?” Fin paced the stairs outside the courthouse. The wind stung his cheeks and his stomach rumbled audibly. If Barba didn’t show in 5 minutes he was leaving – he wasn’t about to miss lunch for this. 

“That’s what Rollins said. Give him a few more minutes, he’s never been late before.” Carisi glanced at his Apple watch. Crap. The battery was already dead on this thing. Don't get him wrong, he loved being able to check his resting heart rate at all times, I mean how convenient is that, but he wished the battery life was longer. He didn't care what Bella said - it _was_ useful and definitely an investment.

“Yeah well if he doesn’t get here quick you’re gonna be standing out here while I guard the car with the heat on.” 

Carisi rolled his eyes at the older detective and kept looking for Barba. A few frostbitten minutes later the A.D.A. turned the corner, nearly sprinting to the steps. Barba’s suit was askew and his face was flushed, but he had his briefcase which was all that really mattered. 

  


“I know, I know, I’m late. There was a mix up with the briefs and someone- never mind it’s not important. I’m here now so talk.” He said, barely pausing to get a breath in. 

“Hello to you too Counselor.” Sonny rolled his eyes again. Why was everyone being so short today? It wasn’t his fault it was 24° out, 18° with windchill. Scratch that, it had probably gotten colder, but he couldn't be sure since his watch died. 

“Liv said you got the statements from our witnesses and all we needed from you were the warrants. You got ‘em with you right?” Barba looked a little out of sorts. If he didn’t have the warrants the new guy would have to handle it because he was getting out of this cold ASAP. 

“Yes, they’re right here,” he reached in his briefcase, muttering a few choice words as the wind picked back up. 

“Hey Counselor, what’s that on your collar?” Carisi pointed to a dark red smudge where Barba’s shirt met his neck. It was impressive how quickly Barba’s ears turned that exact shade of red. His hand instinctively shot up to cover the offending mark, once again his speed was impressive. 

“Nothing,” he said sharply. After a moment of uneasy silence Barba elaborated, “Something spilled earlier today in my office, but I don’t see how that’s relevant to your warrants. Now if we could get back to the matter at hand, I would appreciate it – I don’t often make a habit of standing in freezing weather for fun.” 

Carisi threw his hands up in mock surrender, “Okay, okay I was just askin’. No need to get defensive or should I say prosecutorial, right Fin?” 

Fin shook his head at the pun and shoved his hands deeper in his coat pockets. Barba was in one of his moods, so best to let Carisi deal with him. But then again, those lame law jokes would probably send Barba over the edge. He’d intervene if he had to, but hopefully Carisi would just let it go. 

“Prosecutorial?’ Not a word you usually hear without ‘misconduct’ attached to it. Was that Fordham’s word of the day? At least they taught you how to pronounce it properly.” 

“Yeah, yeah I get it, I go to night school, it’s hilarious,” Carisi deadpanned, “But really, what’s that on your shirt?” 

Fin groaned. Of course the kid wouldn’t leave it alone; he’d keep pestering Barba until he got an answer. Feeling generous, he came to Barba’s rescue, “Come on Carisi, it’s just a stain. Like Barba said, he spilled his juice box and it just so happened the splash zone was pretty wide. Isn’t that right Counselor?” 

Barba’s jaw clenched and he suppressed an eye roll, “…Yes. That’s _exactly_ what happened. I spilled some...juice and it got on my collar. Glad we cleared that up. Oh, would you look at that? It’s time for me to leave. Immediately.”

Carisi looked between the smirking Fin and the clearly pissed off Barba. His best bet was to stop asking questions he was sure. “Got it. Thanks for the warrants.” 

Without a word, Barba stalked off towards the courthouse doors. The two detectives collected the warrants and trudged toward the car, wrapping their coats tight to fend off the blistering wind. 

  


“Okay, I know I’m not crazy. You saw that too right?!” 

“Come on man, did you really think Barba was going to tell you he had lipstick on his collar?” Fin looked at him expectantly. “As soon as you brought it up, he got so tense I thought he might've pulled something.” 

“Fair enough. But that just proves I was right – I told you I walked in on them! That lipstick is basically exculpatory evidence!” 

“Carisi if you don’t cut out that lawyer crap, you’re gonna be walkin’ back to the precinct.” Fin socked him on the shoulder good-naturedly, “I’m sure our favorite special agent isn’t the only chick in the city that wears that color. It’s gonna take more than that to convince me.” 

Carisi shrugged it off, “Whatever. It’ll come out sooner or later and then you guys will see. I was right all along.” 

  


Barba kept his head ducked as he made a beeline for the restroom. He _told_ you to wipe off that lipstick before you touched him. He _told_ you that he had court and he couldn’t show up with remnants of “Flaming Cinnamon” on his person. But no, you said it would be okay and like an idiot he listened.

He made a face in the mirror as he surveyed the damage. He knew Tutuola was fucking with him about the whole juice thing, but somewhere deep inside he held out hope that the stain didn’t look too incriminating and maybe, just _maybe_ it could pass as something innocuous like goddamn juice. But he just wasn’t that lucky. There, plain as day, stared back at him the perfect imprint of your lips stark against his white collar. Of all the days for him to choose to wear a white shirt, he had to pick the one you decided to wear red lipstick. Typical.

He scrubbed angrily at his collar and mimicked a feminine voice, “Rafael it’ll be fiiiiiiine. You worry too much, Rafael. This shade of red suits your complexion, Rafael. Blah, blah blah!” 

His shook his head in aggravation and swore. His scrubbing had resulted in a large splotch on his formerly pristine button down. He couldn’t decide what was worse – the lip print or the weird looking splotch that now vaguely resembled fruit punch. Barba looked in the mirror and smoothed down his hair. If anyone asked about the stain, he would politely explain that he was involved in a juice related incident and go about his business. Maybe it wasn't so bad, the new shade of red did compliment his tie - he could definitely pull off this juice look. 


End file.
